THE teenagers charged over the murder of Melbourne man Chris Lane will be isolated from one another and other inmates in an Oklahoma jail as long as they are there.

Stephens Country Sheriff Wayne McKinney said they would be held individually at the Stephens County Jail for their own protection, and as part of standard protocol for anyone under 18.

"And we don't want them collaborating with each other," McKinney told the local paper, the Duncan Banner.

District Attorney Jason Hicks said yesterday that it could be months or longer before the three - James Edwards, 15, Chancey Luna, 16, and Michael Jones, 17 - would face trial. It was too early to say whether they would be tried separately or together.

Their next hearings are in October.

The high school attended by the teens is on heightened alert after "anonymous threats" were made just hours after the accuseds first court appearance.

Duncan High School and Middle School added extra security as a precaution, and many parents chose not to send their children to school.

"This evening, we were informed by the Duncan Police Department of anonymous threats involving Duncan High School," the schools' superintendent, Dr Sherry Labyer, posted on its website.

"The credibility of the person or persons communicating the threats is very difficult to ascertain. However, we want to be proactive in taking reasonable precautions."

Dr Labyer later added that school would resume "as usual" on Thursday local time, after an afternoon meeting with the police determined "there have been no further threats or incidents that would lead us to believe we should act otherwise".

Additional security would remain at Duncan High School and Middle School through Friday, and patrol cars would be "vigilant" at the schools and the EDGE Academy for students not likely graduate from high school.

The Immanuel Baptist Church parking lot in Duncan, Oklahoma, where the three accused of killing Chris Lane last Friday were apprehended. Picture: Andrew QuiltySource: Supplied

Meanwhile, the harrowing last moments of Lane's life have been revealed on a 911 emergency call.

The seven-minute call, released by the District Attorney's office in Duncan, Oklahoma, begins with local Joyce Smith telling the operator she was driving her Toyota Corolla and spotted a bloodied man at the side of the road.

"There's a young man," Ms Smith tells the operator.

"He's just fell over in a ditch and he's got blood on him."

It was 2.57pm on Friday.

Authorities allege Lane, a 22-year-old baseball player who had a scholarship with an Oklahoma college and was visiting his US girlfriend Sarah Harper in Duncan, was jogging along Country Club Road when he was shot in the back in a random drive-by shooting.

Ms Smith, unaware Lane has been shot, has no idea what had happened to him.

Ms Smith told the operator Lane was standing at the side of the road, but then fell over in a ditch.

"I'm kind of scared to go over by myself," Ms Smith said.

At 1:42 into the call, Richard Rhodes, a building contractor who was working on a house in front of where Lane was shot on the corner of Country Club Rd and Twilight Beach Rd, came out to investigate.

"The man that has come around the corner off Twilight Beach said, 'He has been shot. Tell them to hurry'," Ms Smith, panic in her voice, relayed to the operator.

"He said, 'He heard the shot and he knows what the car looks like'."

Mr Rhodes will now become key to the case against the teenagers.

Luna, the alleged shooter of a .22 calibre revolver, and Edwards, an alleged passenger in the Focus, were both charged with first-degree murder and face life in prison without parole if convicted. They were both refused bail.

Jones, the alleged driver, was charged with using a vehicle to facilitate the discharge of a weapon and accessory after the fact of murder in the first degree.

He faces a maximum 45-year sentence.

Bail for Jones, who is assisting prosecutors and police, was set at $US1 million ($A1.1 million).

The accused teenagers were dobbed in by a local who claimed his son was the trio's next target.

James Johnson, 52, called the police to tell them that the accused killers were hiding in the car park of the Immauel Baptist Church car park at about 5pm, two hours after they allegedly shot Lane.

"My son called me and said, 'They're saying they're coming to kill me' so I called the police and they got here within about three minutes," Johnson told the Herald Sun.

Mr Johnson claimed that Edwards had threatened the life of his own 17-year-old son Christopher on Facebook. His son was at home with his mother and sisters near the church when he received the death threat.

"They threatened to kill my son because they are in a gang, the Crips, and were trying to get my son in it and I wouldn't let him do it.

"I told him he couldn't run with those boys. He's a little terrified."

Mr Johnson said the Crips was a predominantly African American street gang that began in Los Angeles in 1969 and had been in Duncan for the past few years.

James Johnson believes his teenage son was the trio’s next target. Picture: Andrew QuiltySource: Supplied

He said the group consisted of teenagers who he called "wannabes".

"I've been living here all my life and we never had this, but in the past few years gangs from Lawton have been coming here," Mr Johnson said of the Crips.

Johnson's son also attends Duncan High School, where suspect Luna and Edwards were students. He said he knew both boys and described them as "troublemakers" and "bullies" who had "no parental supervision".

"I'm just glad they found the other gun, because they haven't found the murder weapon yet," Mr Johnson said.

Prosecutors have promised that the "thugs" charged over the brutal murder "will pay".

District Attorney Jason Hicks said outside the first court hearing in the Oklahoma town of Duncan yesterday that he was "going to do everything I can to ensure these three thugs pay for what they did to Christopher Lane".

"To those friends of ours in Australia, we would say to you this is not Duncan, Oklahoma," Mr Hicks said.

"This is not Stephens County, Oklahoma."

James Edwards, 15, charged with first-degree murder.Source: Supplied

James Edwards takes a selfie.Source: Supplied

Stephens County Courthouse heard Edwards danced and laughed as he was taken into a police station to be charged after the killing on Friday.

James Edwards was treating the murder as a joke, Mr Hicks told the hearing.

Mr Hicks told the court that Edwards has previously been in contact with police, and that he had "an attitude of total disregard for law enforcement" when he was being charged over Lane's death.

"He thinks it's funny, and it's all a joke," Mr Hicks said.

"I believe he is a threat to the community."

Mr Hicks said Edwards kept a probation appointment for another matter at the courthouse just minutes after Lane was killed.

"He was cold, callous and that was the demeanour that we saw throughout the course of the investigation," Mr Hicks said.

Mr Hicks said that Luna had refused to co-operate with police.

Chancey Luna, 16, charged with first-degree murder.Source: AP

Chancey Luna.Source: Supplied

The teenagers were dressed in orange prison jumpsuits and had their legs shackled during the brief appearance.

Edwards and Luna did not show any emotion, but Jones broke down in tears after Mr Hicks said he was looking at a "very, very lengthy prison sentence".

"I didn't pull the trigger," Jones said.

Michael Jones, 17, charged with being an accessory to the killing.Source: Supplied

The courtroom was packed and divided.

In the front row sat about 20 family and friends of Harper, 23, who was not in court.

Cindy Harper told the Herald Sun her daughter was at home "trying to relax".

Another Harper family member said "this is surreal" as they were taken out a side door of the court building by sheriffs.

A few rows behind was a distraught Jennifer Luna, coming to grips with a nightmare 12 months that saw the death of her husband in a motorcycle accident and now the prospect her son could spend the rest of his life in prison.

On the right hand side of the courtroom was James Edwards Sr, refusing to believe his son was a killer.

"Yes, I do," Mr Edwards replied outside court when asked if he believed his son, who hoped to be an Olympic wrestler, was innocent.

In the back left area of the court was Jones's parents and supporters, including his pregnant girlfriend.

She sobbed in her seat, eventually leaving the court before Jones came in.

Edwards and Luna did not appear to be fazed during their court appearance.

Even when Ms Luna stood up in court to answer an administrative question from Judge Jerry Herberger, her son didn't acknowledge her.

Edwards didn't look for family members.

James Edwards Sr believes his 15-year-old son is innocent.Source: AP

The sister of accused murder James Edwards is comforted by a friend, left.Source: HeraldSun

Asked if she had a message for the Lane family outside court, Ms Luna told the Herald Sun: "I feel sorry for them, my heart goes out to them, it really does, but that's my baby too.

"My boy was a baby too."

Luna said there were no guns at her house, and her son was at home playing X-Box with her soon-to-be stepson when she came home from work last Friday after finishing at 3pm.

It comes after Duncan Police Chief Danny Ford this week said he had secured the confession of Jones who had summoned investigators to his jail cell and claimed they were bored "so they decided to kill somebody".

Chief Ford said the teens had no motive other than to ''make a name for themselves''.

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